WAAMCtrl v2 live production screen for the latest dual-wire-plasma WAAM.Milton Keynes-based
WAAM3D, a global leader in Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM), announced the v2 release of its signature WAAMCtrl software at the
TCT360 show today, which is taking place 7-8 June at the NEC, Birmingham (Hall 1, Stand B38) — it has been under development since 2015. This all-encompassing operating system for WAAM3D’s RoboWAAM wire arc AM machine, a ‘state of the art’ multi-metre 3-D metal additive manufacturing (AM) platform, has been designed for aerospace, defence, energy, and research communities.
Leveraging on the 60 sensors on board RoboWAAM, WAAMCtrl monitors and controls the WAAM deposition, while recording all key process parameters on its secure server. As well as enabling operators to have a fully controllable production process, WAAMCtrl also incorporates auditable data storage, quality logs, and interactive data navigation, to demonstrate compliance in a repeatable way.
The operator can initiate automatic cycles for shielding atmosphere establishment, maintenance, and evacuation via its touchscreen-based graphical user interface. WAAMCtrl also provides a facility for controlling and restarting deposition programmes.
Big deposition dataOperators can see in real-time how a project is progressing thanks to the ‘state of the art’ sensors which transmit information to WAAMCtrl 10s of times per sec, for monitoring and control via proprietary wire-position and interpass temperature closed-loops. Real-time colour-coding of the 3-D charts also helps make sense of big deposition data, mapped over the part’s real geometry.
Pictured right: Split screen view to compare different key process variables side-by-sideShould the production process need to be assessed, WAAMCtrl records all the process data, tracking the deposition of the part from material source to shipping and making them easily accessible. Also, thanks to WAAMCtrl’s use of statistical process control, its monitoring output enables the demonstration of robustness, validity and compliance to certification boards and other regulatory bodies. All data can be summarised in the fully customisable audit forms or exported in csv format.
Jialuo Ding, chief technology officer and one of the founders of WAAM3D, said: “We are very pleased to be able to offer the v2 release of our signature WAAMCtrl software. It serves as more than just a digital platform for collecting comprehensive process and system data for quality control purposes. It also offers a high level of process control and assists users in confidently using the RoboWAAM system.”